South Korea is a major economic partner for the United States. In 2004, trade between the two countries was over $70 billion, making South Korea the United States’s seventh-largest trading partner — ahead of France and Italy — and its seventh-largest export market. In 2005, the U.S. was Korea’s third-largest trading partner, second-largest export market, and its largest supplier of foreign direct investment (FDI). Bilateral economic relations have advanced to the point that the two sides in February 2006 announced their intention to negotiate a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), which they hope to complete by 2007. The announcement followed South Korean concessions in four areas: beef, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and “screen quotas” limiting the amount of screen time that foreign films could be shown. The United States had said an FTA could not be launched unless Seoul demonstrated its ability to deliver compromises in these sectors. (The rest omitted)